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Music Trade Review

Issue: 1923 Vol. 76 N. 9

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
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VOL. LXXVI. No. 9 Published Every SaUrday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., 373 4th Ave., New York, N. Y.
Mar. 3, 1923
Single Copies 10 Cents
92.00 Per Year
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ACK of accurate knowledge regarding the age of instruments offered in exchange as part payment on
new pianos has cost the piano merchants of this country hundreds of thousands of dollars through in-
ducing them to make allowances more or less in the dark and consequently considerably in excess of
actual values.
It happens frequently that the dealer himself makes an earnest effort at least to break even on the ex-
change and, while giving the customer what he believes to be an honest valuation, at the same time seeks to
protect his own interests. Unless, however, the dealer can personally inspect each piano offered in exchange
through his salesman and have some accurate knowledge of its age and standing, he is almost sure to get
into frequent difficulties.
It is with a view to giving the retailer some fairly accurate guide on used piano values that the Music
Industries Chamber of Commerce, through a capable committee of which C. Alfred Wagner is chairman, is
working on the compilation of a depreciation schedule of used piano values. At the present time the Com-
mittee is seeking the co-operation of both manufacturers and dealers in an effort to develop a schedule that will
be of genuine value.
Of particular interest is the plan for collecting the serial numbers of as many makes of pianos as pos-
sible for each year since 1890, and the co-operation of the manufacturers as already manifested practically in-
sures obtaining much authentic information along that line. This list of serial numbers is expected to prove
of great value, for it will give to the dealer a direct means of checking up on the age of instruments upon
which salesmen have passed first judgment. It will mean that instruments which in many cases are valued
by the salesmen at $225 to $250 on a basis of appearance and anxiety to close the sale will prove through the
serial number to be of an age that will warrant only an allowance of $150, or less. It is realized, of course,
that no hard and fast schedule of allowances applicable to all situations is possible, but it is likewise realized
that it is very possible to gather together information that will serve as a rule and guide to the dealer without
binding him to follow out rigidly the figures given in the schedule.
Another important feature of the proposed schedule is that providing for the listing of retail prices of
practically all makes of pianos as of February 1. 1923, in order that the retailer may have some guide in deter-
mining the price actually paid by the customer for the used instrument when it was bought originally. This-
is the most important factor in enabling the retailer and his salesmen to place a fair value on the piano offered
in exchange. There have been cases known where prospects have been inclined to exaggerate to a greater or
less degree when proclaiming the original cost of the piano offered in exchange.
There have been allowance schedules on used pianos prepared by local and national organizations at
various times, and several of them have worked out very successfully. I-Hit this is the first time that a really
serious effort has been made to draft a schedule, national in scope both as to the information offered therein
and its sphere of usefulness.
Piano manufacturers, merchants, travelers and, in fact, all those engaged in the various branches of
the industry are being approached by the committee, through the medium of questionnaires, in an effort to
gather from all sources as much information as possible on the value and standing of used instruments, with
a view to making this new schedule authentic and practical. The movement is deserving of the support of all
members of the trade who have appreciated the tremendous losses occasioned through over-allowances and
who will see in the new schedule a means, to a certain degree, at least, for overcoming the problem.
It cannot be expected,'however, that any schedule or any budget of information will act as a panacea
for all evils associated with trade-ins. Over-allowances will continue to be made by retailers who gauge their
business success by volume rather than by profit and who meet competition with price-cutting and concessions.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
REVIEW
MARCH 3,
1923
the lower payroll simply the elimination of a certain amount of
overtime.
It has only been a few years ago when the trade showed such a
falling off in demand during the first months of the year that
there was found always an excuse to cut down the plant for a
week for inventory. Had that condition existed this year, the
payroll drop would have amounted to 35 per cent or more, instead
of less than. 10.
(ReRistered in the U. S. Patent Office)
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Exposition Honors Won by The Review
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Vol. LXXVI
NEW YORK, MARCH 3, 1923
No. 9
FIRST TWO MONTHS OF 1923 SATISFACTORY
EPORTS from various sections of the country indicate that
R
predictions of a satisfactory business for music merchants
during 1923 have been realized during the first two months at
least, for despite short stocks and extreme Winter weather in
many localities the sales totals have practically without exception
shown increases over those for the same period in 1922.
It is to be considered, of course, that the country itself is in a
rather prosperous condition with the majority of the industries
working full time or nearly so, and unemployment cut down to
minimum. This means that there is money to be spent and it is
only reasonable that, by putting proper effort into their work,
music merchants should get a fair share of it.
Judging from the number of retailers who have been visiting
Jhe piano manufacturing centers during the past month or so in
an effort to increase the size of the shipments made to their ware-
rooms by manufacturers, there seems to be a full supply of optimism-
regarding the trade for the next few months at least. Certainly
there is no prospect of overproduction even with the coming of
Summer, and, although this may theoretically mean the loss of some
retail sales, it nevertheless works to the benefit of the trade as a
whole by keeping it in a healthy condition.
When the piano output is greatly in excess of public demand,
there develops a condition which tempts a surprising number of
piano merchants to get that panicky feeling, making price conces-
sions and unhealthy long-term offers in an effort to keep up sales
totals.
Confirmation of the report that retail business has kept up
well after the holidays is found in the figures regarding em-
ployment and wages in piano factories for January, issued by
the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. These figures indi-
cate that among sixteen concerns there was a total of 5,569 em-
ployes in January, as compared with 5,606 in December, a decrease
of only seven-tenths of 1 per cent, while the weekly payroll was
reduced only 9.3 per cent, and the per capita earnings of the em-
ployes dropped off only 8.7 per cent.
These figures mean that the piano factories reported upon
were just as busy practically in January as they were in December,
for the drop in employes represents only a slight fluctuation and
RETAIL ADVERTISING CONTEST NEARING CLOSE
about three weeks the Retail Advertiser's contest, conducted
I of N by Commerce,
the Trade Service Bureau of the Music Industries Chamber
will be brought to a close and the committee, of
which Thomas H. Fletcher, of the Aeolian Co., is chairman, will
begin its work of deciding who in the two classes of advertisers
are to be considered worthy of the various awards that are offered,
including two prize cups.
The idea back of the contest was that it would serve to arouse
the interest of music merchants in advertising and to produce better
copy as a result of the increased interest. It is sincerely to be
hoped that this result will be realized, for although recent surveys
indicate substantial increases in the retail advertising of musical
instruments in various sections of the country, there is still ap-
parent in certain localities a small amount of copy that is ques-
tionable. This does not necessarily mean that the copy is illegal,
but it is of the sort frowned upon by those who hope to put the
trade in the right light before the public.
Perhaps the prize-winning copy which will be presented to
the trade at the Chicago conventions in June may be used to ad-
vantage by the Better Business Bureau of the Chamber to impress
by example these questionable advertisers, showing them the sort
of copy that is right in addition to presenting criticisms of their
own advertising ideas.
THE TRADE-IN IN THE AUTO FIELD
HE automobile dealers are beginning to feel the problem of
handling used cars profitably to the extent of making some
possible solution of that problem a matter for the consideration
of the Automobile Merchants' Association. In their consideration
of the question, the automobile men have made some interesting
suggestions, found elsewhere in The Review this week. The most
interesting is that providing for reports each six months of the
prices realized upon various makes and types, of cars sold during
the preceding half-year. The main problem, of course, is to make
the used car department break even, even though it may not show
a profit, and as piano merchants and automobile dealers are work-
ing on the same problem, perhaps an interchange of ideas might
prove interesting and profitable.
MOVES TO REDUCE TRANSPORTATION COSTS
the recent ruling of the Interstate Commerce
F issue OLLOWING
Commission to the effect that the railroads of the country should
mileage books, or strips, for the use of legitimate com-
mercial travelers, at a discount of approximately 20 per cent under
regular passenger tariffs, there comes the news that important
downward revisions of freight rates between Chicago and the
Pacific Coast, and of efforts being made to bring about a general
reduction in express charges, although that move is being strongly
combated by the express companies, who have countered with a
demand for greater revenue. All these movements are of direct
interest to the business world and are deserving of the support
of the Music Industries Chamber of Commerce and of the vari-
ous associations affiliated with that body.
PERMANENT ORGANIZATIONS FOR MUSIC WEEKS
HE organization in New York City recently of the New York
T
Music Week Association, Inc., as a permanent body to take
charge of and conduct the annual music week celebrations in the
metropolis, marks the latest step in the development of the music
week idea which, although comparatively new, has made impres-
sive progress. The new body will serve to relieve the National
Bureau for the Advancement of Music, originator of the music
week idea, of much of the detail in connection with the local cele-
bration, although the Bureau will still continue to operate actively
in the work.
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